Red Leg Celebrates 5 Years; Shares Big Plans For Their Future

What do you get when you combine the 4th of July with a 5th Anniversary party and a 2 craft beer geeks like us? You get a summer party that’s cranked up to 11! At least, that was our experience when we went to Colorado Springs for Red Leg Brewing Company’s 5th Anniversary Party. We attended the shindig with our buddy and honorary BMT member for the day, Chris. Red Leg Brewing Company certainly knows how to throw a party, and we all had a great time. And while 5 years in business is worthy of a celebration, we left the party excited about the future of Red Leg Brewing Company. But before we get to their big news, let us tell you about Red Leg Brewing Company & their awesome celebration.

Celebratory selfie, featuring our buddy Chris with your pals from BMT

Red Leg Brewing Company Celebrates 5 Years

Red Leg Brewing Company opened in Colorado Springs on July 4, 2013. The brewery is Veteran-owned and strives to make great craft beer to honor the men and women who serve, or have formerly served, in the United States Military. The name Red Leg comes from the nickname given to Civil War artillery soldiers, who wore a red stripe down the leg of their uniform to help distinguish them on the battlefield. This is a brewery for service men and women, staffed by service men and women. That alone is honorable, to be certain, but that’s not the only reason we like this place. The fact is, Red Leg Brewing Company also makes some damn good beer! We’ve enjoyed Red Leg Brewing Company since we visited just before their first anniversary, and are thrilled that they’ve only gotten bigger & better over the past several years.

Every year on July 4th Red Leg Brewing Company throws an incredible party to celebrate their birthday and, of course, Independence Day. Unfortunately, until this year we could never make it down to attend their anniversary celebration. We have always heard the party was fun and not-to-be-missed, and now we know that was not an exaggeration. Red Leg’s anniversary party lived up to all our expectations and then some! Held in the overflow parking lot behind their brewery, it had a real family-reunion type of feel, only on a bigger and better scale than your typical backyard party. There was loads of fun outdoor games, plus great live music, several food trucks, and of course, plenty of beer. We love Red Leg’s Twin Tail IPA and their Market Garden Session IPA, the latter of which is perfect for a long day of celebrating! In addition to their draft brews, Red Leg had several tasty firkins and one-off brews available throughout the day. We sampled a few and our favorites were the Mango IPA and the Blueberry Kolsch.

The Tejon Street Corner Thieves

One of the highlights of the day was the Tejon Street Corner Thieves. This band put on a scorcher of a performance! If you aren’t familiar with them, these fellas are worth seeking out for their awesome mix of blues, bluegrass, and rock. We also found a new favorite food truck – the Bite Me Gourmet Sausage truck. We loved our gourmet grilled cheese with bacon and apple, despite it being a sausage-less choice. Even though our sammie was good, we still couldn’t help but drool over Chris’ Yankee Doodle Noodle, a brat topped with macaroni and cheese. Yum! Sorry, no food photos were taken as we were too busy eating to stop and snap a pic.

Delicious beer, great music, wonderful food, and good friends… it all made for a fun day! If we had to find one thing to whine about maybe it would be the July heat, but even that wasn’t too bad. There were enough clouds to keep things from getting too sweaty, and we managed to avoid any rain. When the temperature crept up you could easily escape the sun in the brewery or under the various tents. If you were so inclined you could also cool down in the splash-zone of the dunk tank!

Red Leg’s Future Plans: More Distribution and a Bigger Brewery

During the party, Red Leg Brewing’s President and founder, Todd Baldwin, took the mic to thank everyone for their part in the success of the brewery. Friends, family, staff, and customers have all helped to make Red Leg Brewing Company successful, and Baldwin was appreciative of everyone who helped the brewery remain successful during their first five years. Baldwin also made two announcements that show that the future of Red Leg Brewing Company continues to look strong…

First up, Baldwin announced that beginning August 1, Red Leg Brewing Company has expanded their distribution to several more military bases. They will now distribute Red Leg beer to Fort Sill, Vance Air Force Base, Sheppard Air Force Base, Altus Air Force Base, just to name a few. We didn’t catch the names of all the new bases that will sell Red Leg beer, but we know that eventually, Red Leg Brewing Company would love to serve every military base. It’s a big goal, but given the success of Red Leg’s first 5 years, they just may make it happen.

Todd Baldwin, President and Founder of Red Leg Brewing Company

Of course, to distribute more you need to brew more, and to that point, Red Leg had another big announcement. Baldwin shared the news that Red Leg Brewing Company has begun development of a new site about a mile and a half south of their current location, at 30th Street and Garden of the Gods Road. The new Red Leg Brewing Company facility will feature an all-new system for their production brewery. It will also be home to a bigger and better taproom, featuring an open-air market with outside food vendors. Red Leg’s new home will be near Garden of the Gods park, featuring plenty of hiking, biking and recreational options nearby. The current design concept shows the building modeled after Air Force hangers, with a big outdoor patio and plenty of parking. The new Red Leg Brewing Company is expected to be open in 2019.

Artist rendering & location for the new Red Leg Brewing Company concept

About Red Leg Brewing Company

We had a blast on Independence Day at the Red Leg Brewing Company anniversary party. We highly recommend you make plans to attend next time around. Only, don’t wait that long to pay Red Leg Brewing a visit. Stop by their tasting room on the west side of Colorado Springs today for some great beer poured by some really awesome people. If you can’t visit Red Leg Brewing in person, look for cans of their beer at your local craft beer store; use their beer finder to find Red Leg Brewing Company beer near you. Finally, make sure you follow Red Leg Brewing on social media to stay informed about their new brewery!